I must have been tired when I wrote that - I collapse a *hairpin*, not a slur, as a workaround.

It is possible to add arrows as graphics, but the problem is that a graphic won't wrap to the next line. What I could do however is import a better arrowhead instead of using the overpressure symbol.

The promising thing is that Dorico's graphics capabilities are getting better over time. I am able to add Saariaho-style bow overpressure symbols as images in such a way that they appear both in the score and in parts. Obviously I have to chop them up (to adjust for formatting differences between score and part, since the graphic won't "wrap" to the next system) and adjust the positions of the individual pieces of the overpressure symbols in each bar to line them up, but before 2.1 I think this wasn't possible.

I am also able to hide noteheads and stems now, this also was not possible before. I was able to "fake" aleatoric lines recently without much work by adding glissandi without the text between notes that had the heads, stems and ledger lines hidden. Previously you could only do that by shortening the stem, and shrinking the notehead and colouring it white. Obviously the playback sounds kind of funny, nothing like that it actually sounds like, but I don't care so much about that. So it is getting noticeably better each version since even the workarounds are becoming less cumbersome than they were previously.

A notation software should be able to draw any line , if not any curve.

Music software should have the drawing capabilities of Illustrator; the text layout and typographic controls of InDesign; it should display, import and export a variety of graphic image formats; it must have the MIDI and audio editing capabilities of a DAW, like Logic or Cubase.

... and that's before we get to the music! (I've said this before, but truly I can't think of another genre that requires so many facilities.)

Yes, Dorico still has a number of lacunae, but as the team themselves say, they're working on them, and they'll release them when they are ready. It has proved itself several times in going from "no functionality" to "best in class". Each update has surprised and impressed.

Compare to Finale, where in the 8 years since the staff layout changes in F2011, the only real improvements we've had are slightly improved handling of rests and accidentals in Layers, and the latest artic/slur avoidance.

I have switched to using Dorico in recent months instead of Sibelius, and I think its biggest weakness for my workflow is the inability to draw lines and arrows

For the time being, you might find it easier to load a PDF into an app like Affinity Designer, or Illustrator, where you can edit multiple pages of a PDF. (Affinity will let you load all the pages of a PDF; Illustrator will load individual pages but save them back in place to the original PDF file.)

For the time being, you might find it easier to load a PDF into an app like Affinity Designer, or Illustrator, where you can edit multiple pages of a PDF. (Affinity will let you load all the pages of a PDF; Illustrator will load individual pages but save them back in place to the original PDF file.)

Thanks for Affinity Designer, I have never heard about it. I used before Illustrator but now avoid because of the subscription and clouding (that irritates me very much). Is AD similar to AI or Inkscape?

The font to use as Arrow Crafter is ok method if you need a straight horizontal line.
Btw, all kind of lines you have in GNU FreeSerif.

Affinity Designer is very similar to Illustrator, though with its own distinctive UI. There is also Affinity Photo, very much like Photoshop; and Affinity Publisher is currently a free Beta.
They are an award-winning integrated suite of professional alternatives to Adobe's Creative Suite, at a fraction of the price.

Although Inkscape does all I need I've recently switched to Affinity Designer and so far it's been worth the price. In fact it reminds me a bit of Dorico. Or rather, it shows what Dorico could be if the market for notation software was comparable to the market for graphic design, i.e. if Steinberg could invest as much into Dorico as Affinity can invest into their product line.

Open Source is a great concept; but in the end paying for modern software does pay off (provided that software is professionally built and actively developed – I'd gladly pay an update fee for every minor Dorico update, but I probably won't buy what they call a 'Finale update' ever again).

If Affinity Designer does what AI does, than it is really a great price. I will investigate it, however, my last switch was to Windows (last projects) since I have a lot of trouble having Finale working smoothly on Mac, at least my scores. So my software is somehow mixed, I use right now Inkscape.

Definitely should a notation software (Dorico?) implement several tools from drawing (vector-type) software.

If Affinity Designer does what AI does, than it is really a great price. I will investigate it, however, my last switch was to Windows (last projects) since I have a lot of trouble having Finale working smoothly on Mac, at least my scores. So my software is somehow mixed, I use right now Inkscape.

If Affinity Designer does what AI does, than it is really a great price.

Rumour has it that there are a few advanced features that expert users of AI miss in Affinity Designer – but I seriously doubt that you would ever need such features for music engraving. At any rate, the price is ridiculously low: it is really easy to use, yet powerful. If you’re coming from Inkscape you might need to get used to the UI, but that didn’t take long for me. There are excellent video tutorials to get you started, too.

Definitely should a notation software (Dorico?) implement several tools from drawing (vector-type) software.

Amen to that. I’m pretty sure the Dorico developers plan to do exactly that. As lines and arrows and such things are being requested frequently, we might be lucky and see something like this in Dorico 3.0 (are you reading this, Daniel? )

Not version 3.0, but the Dorico team have announced a 'small' update: v2.2.10, which will be released in 'early Feb'. As well as many bug fixes, it contains a bunch of small productivity enhancements: auto-save; customizing the graphic export filenames; key shortcuts for flipping anything and toggling accidental status; MIDI recording improvements; a warning when printing a transposing part in concert pitch(!) and some new engraving fixes and options.

The responsiveness of the team to customer requests is amazing. The 'concert pitch warning' came after some grumbling from people who had printed out parts after changing the view. (Mind you, they're also good at saying "No" when they think a request is unnecessary or 'conceptually limited'!)